May 26, 2010

It's been a while since I shared the details of my knitting obsession, but WOW! the Blue Glass Shimmer (70% alpaca, 30% silk) hand-dyed lace weight that I just got by UPS to make the Leaf Lace Scarf (visit my Ravelry projects page for pattern details) is so gorgeous that I felt inspired to blog.

I'm down to the toes on the Tutti-Frutti Butterfly socks (thank the Lord!), and that project has turned out to be one that never seems to end. I knit a few pattern repeats on the Coral Cables sleeveless cardi, but haven't gotten any further than that. But it stares at me longingly every time I sit down to work on the socks. Ever have a project that just seems to take over your life? And the wool sweater that I screwed up for my son keeps reminding me that I was going to tear that out and redo it--had that intention since about December.

My daughter and I Kool-ade dyed about 10 oz of Coopersworth on Monday because she was home sick and we needed a crafty project. It's spinning up pretty nicely; but oddly the camel-colored roving is looking rather yellow next to the turquoise (Berry Blue), burgundy (Black Cherry), and kelly green (lemon lime and Blue Rasperry Lemonade). Makes me think of melted popsicles. And I'm still working on spinninig the pink gold silk. Can't wait to get started on the soy silk that I just got in.

I don't think the fair isle socks will ever get finished and I'm seriously considering ripping them out and starting over (5th time?) with a finer weight yarn.

My mother gently reminded me on Tuesday that I haven't sent any preemie hats in a couple weeks. So there's that to do. I bought new yarn, but am just too busy. Gotta finish the socks!

And tomorrow is the LAST day of school! Hurray!!! A few of us are planning to get together during post-planning for a little knitting time.

So, tonight my mission is to finish the Tutti-Fruttis and get on with my life. Pictures coming soon.

May 12, 2010

Since I seem to have caught the latest stomach bug, and I was UP at 2:30 this morning and too miserable to sleep, I thought I'd catch a quick handspinning video on the ol' Youtube, and that inspired me to start spinning the orangey-gold Tussah Silk that I bought at the Stitches South convention last month. I bought about 2 oz. from Gale Evans of Gale's Art. It's very orangey-gold in the hank, but when I unwound it to spin it I discovered that, hidden from view, there was a giant rosey-pink spot. At first I was irritated because that little discovery changed everything, but it is spinning up to a fine pink gold lace weight--almost a thread--and the pink is giving it a sunset sort of coloring. Pretty nice! Thought I'd share.

And then a funny thing happened the other day, knit-wise. I have been fussing about getting back to a sweater vesty thing that I started last August (Kathy Zimmerman's "Coral Columns"). As I mentioned before, I can't seem to get away from the socks! (Tutti-Frutti Butterflies almost to the heel now) A friend of mine asked me last night to make her a pair of lace socks with Ravens in the pattern--have to think about that one for a while. Anyway, I dug out the pattern and I dug out the beautiful fern-colored extra fine merino and the little bit that I had started on the back panel. And then it was like I forgot how to knit with straight needles altogether! It's literally been since November that I knitted with straight needles instead of circulars, except for the errant dishcloth during a car trip. I got down the front row alright, but then when I turned the thing, I was befuddled on what to do next. Craziest thing. But I picked up the pattern again and knit a few rows, and it felt good to be back to work on a put-away project. THIS is What's Knitting next:

May 09, 2010

My Mother's Day was pretty swell, too. We went to the lake and I sat in the sun, got a little more tan, worked on the Tutti Frutti Knee Socks ... the kids fished and drove my husband nuts. It was great! We had absolutely the most perfect weather, too. So the Tutti Frutti socks had me worried because they weren't looking much better the third time around, but I've actually gotten past the first row of butterflies and it looks like they might finally be coming together. I'm not too crazy about how absolutely different the color pattern is from one sock to the next, but my daughter seems to like their odd, mismatched quality. That's good because if I have to tear them out one more time, I don't think I'd actually start over. The pattern is developing nicely and I will share it as soon as it is ready.

Hope all the mother knitters out there had a relaxing, knit-filled Mother's Day, too!

May 08, 2010

Socks, socks, socks! I can't seem to get around to knitting anything else these days! As soon as I finish a pair, a new pair needs to be knitted. I did a knitting marathon to get some socks done for Mother's Day. I thought that I had two weeks to knit them--Mother's Day kind of snuck up on me this year--and it turned out that, with having to ship them to my mother, I had 5 days. Every waking moment that I could spare was devoted to knitting my Gulf Socks--so named because the colors reminded me of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the spiral pattern, which I adapted from Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer's Cornucopia pattern, ended up looking like, with the variegated colors of the yarn, a series of waves heading toward shore. 5 days. One pair of socks.

So, as soon as I finished those, my daughter, who's 6, informed me that she needs knee socks. Never knit knee socks before, so this is an experiment in patience. I decided to go with a butterfly pattern and am using Regia 4-Fach Haltbar--basically, these are the Tutti Frutti Butterfly socks because they are going to be one crazy pair of socks. Knitting from two separate skeins, doing two-at-a-time, it appears that the color arrangement of the yarn was wound in opposite directions. I have knit, torn out completely to make the circumference larger, knit again, and am now tearing out to the cuff because I think I need to alter the butterfly pattern. It looked too stretched when my daughter tried one on for sizing. So, picture coming soon.